From paddleboarding witches to Paxton Gate’s oddities, Portland does weird oh so well — despite what Terry Currier has to say. In honor of April Fools’ Day, we’ve rounded up some bizarre stories that even made Portlanders do a double take.
🧸 Fluffy freeway debris
Let’s start with a rather enigmatic occurrence from this week. Transportation officials could bear-ly guess why 300 stuffed animals, including a fuzzy Pikachu, Winnie the Pooh, and Minion, were strewn along Interstate 5 at the Burnside Bridge. Maybe someone watched “Toy Story” for the first time, and really didn’t like what they saw.
If we had to pick a culprit, we’re lookin’ at you Stitch. | Photo via @OregonDOT
🥒 Quite the pickle
Remember when Delta Air Lines lost Dillon the Pickle on a return trip from the Dominican Republic? The mascot’s costume was subsequently found, stolen by a porch pirate, ultimately recovered by an anonymous hero on a bus, and returned to Voodoo Donuts. We’ll admit, the dill-emma was rather jarring.
💤 In your dreams
That time when peculiar flyers appeared around Portland, asking people to call a number and describe any particularly strange dreams that they were having, certainly threw us all for a loop. Apparently, the Willamette Valley Dream Survey Team (which has zero online presence) was investigating a recent “spike in bizarre, unexplainable dreams.”
🛣️ Sign of creativity
“The Simpsons” matron Marge Simpson, created by Portlander Matt Groening, had her time in the limelight, and on a good hair day to boot. A creative street artist transformed a sign on the I-405 onramp — near the recently opened Ned Flanders Crossing — into “Merge Simpson,” using a nearby ivy bush as her iconic tall ‘do.
💰 Have you seen him?
Oh, and we can’t forget possibly the most baffling FBI case ever — one that’s fueled countless conspiracies for 50+ years. It all started when a man named D.B. Cooper boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines flight at Portland International Airport …
